4 stars

Marvin Kaye (editor)

The Vampire Sextette

Garden City, NY: Bookspan

2000

ISBN 0-7394-1154-3

As the title of this anthology implies, not only does it comprise six novellas, it also focuses on the erotic overtones of the vampire mythos. The stories vary, however, in their degree and kind of erotic content, from tenderly romantic to graphic to horrific. Editor Marvin Kaye gathers original fiction from six of the best-known contemporary vampire authors. Kim Newman contributes "The Other Side of Midnight," a new installment from his "Anno-Dracula" alternate-reality Earth, in which vampires hold a recognized place in society. This episode, set in 1981, centers on Orson Welles and his abortive attempts to film Bram Stoker's DRACULA. Again Newman entertains readers with cameo appearances by numerous pop-cultural personalities, historical and fictional, including a wickedly satirical confrontation between vampire heroine Genevieve and "Barbie the Vampire Slayer," who turns out to be not quite what she seems.

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro unveils the long-awaited return of Madelaine de Montalia in "In the Face of Death," set in San Francisco in the 1850s. Madelaine has a brief affair with William Tecumseh Sherman, future Civil War hero. Like most of Yarbro's vampire fiction, this story foregrounds the inevitable loss consequent upon love between a vampire and a mortal. Nancy Collins' "Some Velvet Morning" revisits the world of Sonja Blue, who unearths a blood-bathing Contessa familiar to any fan of vampire lore. Brian Stableford's "Sheena" and S. P. Somtow's "Vanilla Blood," on the other hand, have no connection with THE EMPIRE OF FEAR and VAMPIRE JUNCTION, respectively. Stableford's tale concerns a love affair overshadowed by spectral vampirism, while Somtow's much more graphic piece dramatizes a very strange serial murder trial. Finally, Tanith Lee presents a unique vampiric entity in "The Isle Is Full of Noises."

Every story in this anthology is above average, as would be expected from these authors. The ones I found most memorable were Newman's and Somtow's. It is always delightful, also, to meet Madelaine de Montalia and Sonja Blue again. I recommend THE VAMPIRE SEXTETTE to all devoted readers of vampire fiction. As far as I know, the book is presently available only through the Science Fiction Book Club. If you don't have a membership, it would be worthwhile to join just long enough to order this volume.

Margaret L. Carter